Earlier this year, brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll released Wonky, their first studio album under the name Orbital since 2004. In a recent interview with Exclaim!, the brothers discussed the rationale for their departure and evolution of their highly anticipated return.
"When we stopped, we stopped for a reason," Phil explains. "We stopped because we weren't feeling it any more, even though we were in a great position, in a band. We were creatively drained doing this Orbital machine, and so we chucked the baby out with the bath water, but really believed that was it."
Paul continues: "In the past, we might have been writing our version of dance music, whereas this time around, we're writing our version of what Orbital would play live, which is brilliant 'cause that's exactly what we were doing. We'd done two years of that, playing all our old tracks, and refreshed ourselves as to what it was that we thought was good about what we did or not. And then took that idea into the studio and said, 'Right, let's make an album of stuff we want to play live.' Nothing to do apart from please ourselves."
As previously reported, this manifested itself into a recent North American tour, which include a stellar Vancouver stop along the way. And while Wonky on its own would have been enough to keep fans satisfied, Orbital also recently released their score for the English-language remake of Nicolas Winding Refn's 1996 Danish film Pusher.
Despite already having a busy 2012, Orbital have teamed up with UK producer Nathan Fake for a tour in the UK throughout the first two weeks of December. You can see all the dates, including some in Europe and Japan, here.
You can read all of Exclaim!'s recent Orbital interview here.
"When we stopped, we stopped for a reason," Phil explains. "We stopped because we weren't feeling it any more, even though we were in a great position, in a band. We were creatively drained doing this Orbital machine, and so we chucked the baby out with the bath water, but really believed that was it."
Paul continues: "In the past, we might have been writing our version of dance music, whereas this time around, we're writing our version of what Orbital would play live, which is brilliant 'cause that's exactly what we were doing. We'd done two years of that, playing all our old tracks, and refreshed ourselves as to what it was that we thought was good about what we did or not. And then took that idea into the studio and said, 'Right, let's make an album of stuff we want to play live.' Nothing to do apart from please ourselves."
As previously reported, this manifested itself into a recent North American tour, which include a stellar Vancouver stop along the way. And while Wonky on its own would have been enough to keep fans satisfied, Orbital also recently released their score for the English-language remake of Nicolas Winding Refn's 1996 Danish film Pusher.
Despite already having a busy 2012, Orbital have teamed up with UK producer Nathan Fake for a tour in the UK throughout the first two weeks of December. You can see all the dates, including some in Europe and Japan, here.
You can read all of Exclaim!'s recent Orbital interview here.